BALTIMORE, Md. – The Manhattanville College women's volleyball squad's record-setting 2019 campaign has come to a close following a tough 3-0 (25-9, 25-9, 25-9) loss Friday night, Nov. 15, to No. 6 Johns Hopkins University in the first round of the NCAA Division III Women's Volleyball Championship, with this weekend's regional being hosted by the Blue Jays at Goldfarb Gymnasium.
 
The Valiants (24-6) had entered the match against Johns Hopkins (30-0) on a program-record-tying 12-match winning streak, but unfortunately it was halted there by the nation's only remaining undefeated program. Manhattanville earned the automatic bid to NCAAs by winning the program's first-ever conference title, running the table through the regular-season in the Skyline Conference (11-0) and winning their Skyline Tournament semifinal and final matches in five sets apiece over Farmingdale State College and the United States Merchant Marine Academy, respectively.
 
Ending her career in Crimson and Black was senior outside hitter Austen Brauer (Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y./Hastings), who finished the season with 403 kills – a new program record – and is the only player to finish with 400-plus kills in program history. Her 2019 hitting percentage of .281 also ranks ninth on the program's single-season record book. Additionally, she walks away from Manhattanville as the program's single-match leader in kills with 35, set earlier this season against USMMA.
 
Despite the loss, the future is bright for the Valiants, who closed out the season with the program's first-ever NCAA Tournament match. Alongside Brauer – who was named First Team All-Conference and Skyline Player of the Year – was freshman setter Vianca Vital (Carolina, Puerto Rico/Perpetuo Socorro). A five-time Skyline Rookie of the Week selection and First Team All-Conference honoree, Vital wrote her name all over the program's record books in her first season wearing the Crimson and White. The Puerto Rico native set – and the reset – the single-match record for assists with 53 and then 60 during the season. She also finished the campaign with 934 assists, which tops the program's single-season record list by more than 100.
 
Skyline Coach of the Year Amanda Alayon looks to 2020 with a team that will be full of postseason experience – both Skyline and NCAAs – as she graduates just two members of this year's squad and returns 14. In addition to Vital, sophomore outside hitter Alejandra Figueroa (Guaynabo, Puerto Rico/Colegio Rosa-Bell) (second on the team in kills, third in digs), freshman right-side hitter Felicty Hoffert (third in kills, second in blocks), rookie middle blocker Hannah Pena (Goshen, N.Y./Goshen) (first in blocks) and sophomore middle blocker Emma Dronzek (Yonkers, N.Y./Sacred Heart) (third in blocks, fourth in kills) are all main rotation players that return to defend the Skyline title.
 
Manhattanville also bids farewell to senior captain Marissa Shamansky (Woodbury, Conn./Henry Abbott Tech), who joins Brauer as the only two four-year members of the squad this season. Shamansky has been a rock for the Valiants both on and off the court throughout her career, and she and Brauer depart a program the looks poised to be a power in the Skyline for many years to come thanks to a strong foundation set this season by the pair of seniors.